


'sup, we gotta battle

by mitsukyu



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 21:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10579518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mitsukyu/pseuds/mitsukyu
Summary: Seungyoon istechnicallya trainer, which is something he should've remembered when he smiled at Mino.





	

**Author's Note:**

> • for the songkang 100 minute challenge prompt "gaze"  
> • pls [blame seungyoon](https://twitter.com/chrissy96_/status/850249148762738688) at least partly  
> • set in alola because that's the latest game I played

It was a nice day. The sun was shining, a gentle breeze was blowing and, best of all, a trainer was coming up the road to break the monotony. Excellent. The trainer smiled at him and Mino grinned back. 

"'sup," he said, lazily pushing himself off the wall he'd been leaning against. "We gotta battle." 

The trainer stopped short. 

"Excuse me? We definitely do _not_ gotta battle," Seungyoon said, clutching his Rowlet close to his chest and edging away. Rowlet hooted softly in protest at his tightened grip. 

"We definitely do," Mino said, reaching for a pokéball. 

"Why?" Seungyoon asked. He eyed the bushes at the side of the road, trying to judge their usefulness as a possible escape route. 

"What do you mean _why_?" Mino frowned, hand dropping away from the pokéballs attached to his belt. This was not how this was supposed to go. You locked eyes, you battled. He looked the other boy up and down. "You're a trainer, right? You must be. You have the funny hat, the backpack, the conspicuous lab grown pokémon..."

"I like my hat," Seungyoon mumbled. Mino shrugged. 

"It's a good hat, as far as funny hats go," he conceded. "My point is, you're a trainer. Our eyes met. We gotta battle." 

"Oh." Seungyoon glanced back again, but the bushes stubbornly remained a thick, imprenetable mass of thorns. "Exactly how compulsory is that?" he asked carefully. 

"It's like, rule number one, man." Mino paused and huffed out a laugh. "You new, then? Didn't they explain anything when they gave you your Rowlet?" 

Seungyoon scuffed the toe of his sneaker in the sand. He looked at his shoes, then at the sky, gaze drifting anywhere but in Mino's general direction. "Well, kinda, but..." 

"You _are_ a trainer, aren't you?" Mino interrupted, suspicion thick in his voice. "You're a long way from any pokémon lab for a beginner." His frown deepened when Seungyoon hummed uncertainly. "Did you steal that?" he demanded, nodding at Rowlet. The boy didn't look like Team Skull, sure — and Mino should know, he'd been mistaken for a member so often it was starting to get awkward — but you could never be too sure. 

"No!" Seungyoon protested, cuddling Rowlet close. The little pokémon hooted cheerfully and wriggled around trying to climb onto his shoulder, small claws digging into the fabric of his jacket. "Professor Kukui gave her to me. She's mine. I just— I mean— I'm _technically_ a trainer, but..." 

Mino sighed. He leaned his shoulders back against the cool brick wall and rubbed a hand over his face. This was going to be a long one. 

"How can you be _technically_ a trainer?" he asked. "You either are or you aren't. You can be a shitty trainer, sure, but the only way to find out is to have that damn battle. If you came here all the way from Hau'oli, you gotta have some stronger pokémon with you."

"I certainly _set out_ to be a trainer," Seungyoon explained solemnly. 

"Yeah? So what happened?" 

"Um. Well, I went out and I made friends." He gave Rowlet an absent-minded pat. "They're my friends now." 

Mino nodded. "Yeah. So? That's what you do. You train them and you get close." He took out one of his pokéballs. Again. "The point of this exercise is to introduce you to _my_ friends." 

"Wait!" Seungyoon said hurriedly. "Wait. _So_ , I can't let them fight. They're my babies. I need to protect them. Um."

"What."

Seungyoon bit his lip. "They're tiny soft babies." 

"Right." Mino groaned. He let his head fall back against the wall with a thud. "So the idea is you fucking _train_ them so they grow up. They get big and strong and you don't get yourself into dumbass situations like this." 

"But they'll get hurt." Seungyoon pouted, bottom lip red and full and Mino did not feel equipped to deal with this. 

"You're hopeless," he said, combing a hand through his hair. This whole situation was hopeless. He hooked his pokéball back onto his belt. Seungyoon perked up at that. He smiled hopefully now the imminent threat of battle seemed to have petered out. 

"You know I've got some malasadas left," he said. "I bought a box in town this morning. Do you want one? I'll give you one instead of having a battle. It's a trade off, yes?"

Mino considered this. On the one hand, malasadas were delicious and also he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and his stomach made embarrassing pleading noises at the very suggestion. On the same hand, although this kid probably needed a lesson in how the world worked, Mino didn't feel like actually making him cry. He was cute. Wide eyes and round cheeks and strands of soft blond hair peeking out from under his cap. His smile was cute. 

Mino could barely remember the last time he'd lost a battle but in certain specialized ways, he admitted to himself, he was pretty damn weak. 

Anyway, there'd be no honor in it, he decided, to make himself feel better. He officially gave up. 

"Yeah, okay." 

They sat down in the shade of a sprawling tree. It was a warm afternoon and Seungyoon took off his jacket to sit on. He'd let go of Rowlet to root around in his backpack for the promised malasadas and the little pokémon hopped and fluttered around them. Mino grinned and petted her head, feathers warm and soft under his fingers. 

"You're cute," he told her. She pecked affectionately at his fingers. "It's just you and Rowlet, then?" he asked when Seungyoon handed him a malasada. "I figured you'd have some stronger pokémon with you, but—" 

Seungyoon shook his head. He'd just stuffed approximately an entire malasada in his mouth, Mino guessed, and his cheeks were round and full. He chewed industriously and grabbed his backpack again, digging around until he unearthed four pokéballs. 

"No!" he said after he finally swallowed. He held up the pokéballs one by one to show Mino. "This is Rockruff, he's the newest. We only met a few days ago. We're still learning how to get along but he really likes his tummy scratched so we'll be alright. This is Pichu," he said, picking up the next ball, "she's the smallest and I love her. This is Growlithe. She doesn't accidentally set fire to almost anything at all anymore. She's like Rockruff's big sister, I think. It's cute. And this is Clefairy. I'm pretty sure he's magic. They all really like to cuddle and to play around, but they're handful when I let them all out at once. So these days, when I travel, I mostly let them out one by one." 

Mino chuckled. "A handful?" 

Seungyoon coughed. "They once nearly staged a malasada shop robbery," he admitted glumly. "Although I'm convinced my friend's Meowth set them up to it." 

Mino laughed. 

"You know, it's not a bad team you got there, if you'd train them," he said. Seungyon shrugged awkwardly. 

"Yeah, well." 

"How'd you even catch them? Clefairys don't come easy and I speak from experience." 

"I distract them with malasadas." 

"Ah. You know, that explains a lot." 

"It's the smart way to catch pokémon," Seungyoon said. "No one gets hurt." 

"Just fat, huh?" Mino grinned mischievously. "I guess it's all fun and games until they actually hold up a malasada shop." 

Seungyoon actually blushed. It made his cheeks look even cuter. 

"I told you!" he protested. "That was all Meowth's fault." 

"Sure, sure," Mino teased and laughed at Seungyoon's pout. 

In that second of distraction, Rowlet hopped up onto his knee and stole the remaining half of his malasada right out of his hand. 

"Hey! he shouted, while the little pokémon ran off with the loot. It was Seungyoon's turn to laugh, head in his hands and shoulders shaking. 

"You're not raising your children right," Mino told him plaintively. 

"Here, have another." Seungyoon handed him a fresh one, still chuckling. 

"Thanks." Mino looked out at the road as he bit into the sweet pastry. "You know, there's a lot more trainers along his road. They're all pretty strong," he added, turning back to Seungyoon and frowning in concern. 

"Oh." Rowlet, claws empty and stomach full, sneaked back and Seungyoon petted her vaguely. 

"Yeah. You might be better off heading back into town." 

Seungyoon shook his head. "I'm on my way to see a friend in the next town over. It's kinda important. I'll just, I don't know" — he laughed — "hide behind the bushes or something." 

"D'you think you can avoid all of them? Hell, you couldn't avoid me and I was barely trying." 

"I've been doing pretty well so far," Seungyoon said defensively. "You just sneaked up on me." 

"Our eyes met!" 

"I was lost in thought," Seungyoon maintained stubbornly. 

"You came right up and smiled at me." 

"I have no memory of that whatsoever," Seungyoon claimed, looking, Mino thought, pretty shifty. 

"Right." Mino finished the last bites of his malasada before Rowlet could get any ideas and stood up, brushing the dirt off the seat of his jeans. He held out his hand to pull Seungyoon up. "In that case, you'd better stick with me." 

Seungyoon blinked up at him. "Seriously?" he asked, carefully taking his hand. Mino pulled him up and shrugged. 

"I can't very well leave you to fend for yourself, now can I? Next time you'll really get your pokémon hurt." But Seungyoon wasn't even listening any more. He beamed and threw his arms around Mino, hugging him tight. 

"Thanks! You're the best!" He pulled back to smile at him. "It'll be fun!" 

Mino laughed in surprise and patted him on the back. "Yeah, yeah. Come on then, we'd better get going before it gets dark, at least." 

Seungyoon grabbed his backpack and lifted Rowlet up so she could settle on his shoulder. 

"So, will your pokémon be okay, protecting us both?" Seungyoon asked as they started to walk up the road. He'd reached out to take Mino's hand. Seungyoon's hand was warm and fitted exactly in his own and Mino found he didn't really mind. 

They crested the hill and Mino could see the first trainer in the distance. He grinned. With his free hand, he reached for Incineroar's pokéball.

"Oh yes," he said, squeezing Seungyoon's hand. "We're gonna be just fine."


End file.
